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Hold Onto Yourself

  12 Warm & Funny Poems for Children

   

   

  Paul Whybrow

   

   

  Copyright 2014 Paul Whybrow

   

   

  Published by Paul Whybrow

  (Originally written and published under the pen-name

  Augustus Devilheart)

   

   

  Cover Art: Simon Howden at FreeDigitalPhotos

  Hold Onto Yourself

  12 Warm & Funny Poems for Children

   

   

  License Notes

   

   

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold

  or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person,

  please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did

  not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and

  purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work

  of this author.

  Hold Onto Yourself

  12 Warm & Funny Poems for Children

   

   

  Disclaimer

   

   

  This book is a work of fiction. While some of the place names are real, characters are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Hold Onto Yourself

  12 Warm & Funny Poems for Children

   

  'He who laughs, lasts'

   

  Mary Pettibone Poole

   

  Contents

   

  The Poems

   

  A Windy Day

   

  Do You Believe In Ghosts?

   

  Swimming,Swimmy Swim

   

  Making Up Stories

   

  Count-down,Count-up,Count-down

   

  Ducks,Swallows and Cats

   

  Hold Onto Yourself!

   

  Tracks In The Snow

   

  What's Up?

   

  If I Were An Animal

   

  Whiskers

   

  Give Yourself A Cuddle

  The End

  About The Author

  Also by Paul Whybrow

  Novellas

  Short Stories

  Song Lyrics

  Poetry

  Novels 

  Connect with the author

  Hold Onto Yourself

  12 Warm & Funny Poems for Children

  Paul Whybrow

   

  A Windy Day

   

   

  A dustbin just blew past the window.

  I wonder whose it is?

  No rubbish inside it, that's adrift

  In the terribly strong wind.

   

  It's blowing a gale out,

  Sixty miles an hour, at least.

  It sounds like a giant beating

  Great big pillows on our house.

   

  There's booming and banging,

  Strange clattering from the roof.

  Something's loose up there,

  The tiles or aerial about to let go.

   

  I'm glad we're indoors, for the people

  Outside are leaning over to stand straight.

  Hanging onto lamp-posts to prevent

  Being blown back where they've been.

   

  There goes a carrier bag across the sky,

  Like a burst balloon it flies swiftly.

  The birds are all walking or clinging

  To branches, afraid to take to their wings.

   

  Something rattled down the chimney.

  The extractor fan's clapping in time

  With the gusts that tap its flaps open.

  The wind is finding ways in.

   

  Strangest of all is the water in the toilet.

  It's moving around, blown from beneath.

  How windy does it have to be for that?

  I hope that I don't get splashed….

   

   

  Do You Believe In Ghosts?

   

   

  I've had enough with ghosts.

  They're not all they're said to be.

  The one who lives in the spare room,

  he tells fibs all of the time to me.

   

  He pretended to be an old general,

  killed in some silly war,

  sent back to rattle his sabre at us

  and cry a blood-curdling shriek.

   

  But I found out he's a dead teacher,

  who fell off a ride at Disneyland,

  not in some horrible battle.

  He's no braver than my granny.

   

  I'm supposed to be afraid of a banshee

  who wails and screams in the shed

  when wind blows fierce and strong,

  like a sailor in the rigging.

   

  But he's only a greedy cook

  who ate too much ice-cream,

  got fat and had a heart attack.

  He groans with belly-ache.

   

  Don't talk to me about the phantom

  who lurks around the hall, putting

  icy fingers on your neck,

  sneaking up behind you.

   

  She's a no-longer-alive librarian,

  who lost her glasses, and stepped

  in front of a bus, though her

  spectacles were in her pocket.

   

  I'm done with dishonest ghosts.

  What are they doing in our house?

  I'd like to make them go away.

  Do I believe in ghosts? No I don't!

   

  Swimming, Swimmy Swim

   

   

  Splish-Splash-Splosh.

  I'm going to get wet.

  Throw my limbs about,

  Move through water like a trout.

   

   Swimming, Swimmy Swim.

  I'm a water-creature, sleek and slim.

  Glistening and dripping,

  A happy hippo grin is my mouth.

   

  Diving, ducking, dive-bombing.

  Plunging from above into below,

  I'm a gannet, a gull, a puffin, a pelican,

  Holding my breath for as long as I can.

   

  Wriggling, writhing, wringing

  Water from hair and costume,

  A naughty otter, I sit on the shore

  Before I gleefully slide in for more.